Fees increasing?

[MikeD-C05]

Prolly going to be considerable churn over this, but I don't think a catastrophic tipping point has been reached, unless they raise VIP fees, which would be MY tipping point.

They already raised the Vip FEES back in February of 2010. THat alone blew this forum up and alot of anger was generated. I know I was pissed as hell about it. I had two 722s and a 622 dvr and when they said I would be paying $34.00 for the extra two receivers I just about sh*t my pants. I ended up trading all of them in and got a 722k and two 211k and turned them into dvrs with my own external hard drives. That was my way around the increase then. Now I go the two hopper and two joey route and they want to go up $11.00 on my bill . I went ahead and preemptively struck and took care of this and dropped down on programming to just top 120 and dropped one joey off . I am now saving $50.00 a month over what I was paying. Next month this will go up by $11.00 and I will be saving only $39.00. But either way DISH is teaching me to go to other alternatives for programming that I like. Hula, Netflix, and the websites themselves for tv shows I don't sub to any longer. At this rate of price hikes and equipment fee hikes, I will be cutting down to welcome pack , then DISH will be gone. The upside I learn to do other things and I will not be watching near as much tv as I used to.

 

[MikeD-C05]

With Charlie Ergen's net worth @ 10.6 billion http://www.forbes.com/profile/charles-ergen/ he could easily be pushing 12 billion+ in a year's time with the new hopper fees. Seems like yesterday the same page had him @ 8 billion. How does he make ends meet?

I'm all about making money without limits, but just how many billions does it take to provide for your family? When you're pushing daisies does it really even matter? You sure can't take it with you.

This is 1 of my favorite quotes from a notable American philanthropist Chuck Feeney, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/n...ilanthropist-struggles-to-go-broke.html?_r=1& "I want the last check I write to Bounce". Too bad Charlie's mind set is altogether different than Mr Feeney's.

While I have no immediate plans on canceling dish they will however only be getting the bare minimum from me.

The funniest thing is that if DISH was smart they would CUT their fees and see their growth soar !!! When you have the best technology , hardware ,software etc, you should be able to afford to sell your stuff cheaper. The volume of customers that would flock to your service would more than make up for the lack of FEES . But this isn't about GROWTH , it is about more REVENUE so they can finance their newest fascination: Buying Sprint and also fighting their never ending lawsuits with the networks over the auto hop and hopper. They need more money so they don't have to borrow as much to finance their buyout.

Charlie is desperately trying to expand into something new ,because he sees the writing on the wall. Satellite tv is no longer growing. The future is not satellite tv and mobile video over cell phones, tablets etc. is the fix he is looking at. Besides he has all that cell bandwith he bought up just waiting for a partner. Sprint is that partner , Charlie hopes anyway. But I am betting he won't get Sprint and it will be another failed venture ,just like the buyout of Blockbuster ,that is now dieing out store by physical store. Who knows what will happen with the FEES ,after this whole thing blows up in his face?

 

[redelephants]

The funniest thing is that if DISH was smart they would CUT their fees and see their growth soar !!! When you have the best technology , hardware ,software etc, you should be able to afford to sell your stuff cheaper. The volume of customers that would flock to your service would more than make up for the lack of FEES . But this isn't about GROWTH , it is about more REVENUE so they can finance their newest fascination: Buying Sprint and also fighting their never ending lawsuits with the networks over the auto hop and hopper. They need more money so they don't have to borrow as much to finance their buyout.

Charlie is desperately trying to expand into something new ,because he sees the writing on the wall. Satellite tv is no longer growing. The future is not satellite tv and mobile video over cell phones, tablets etc. is the fix he is looking at. Besides he has all that cell bandwith he bought up just waiting for a partner. Sprint is that partner , Charlie hopes anyway. But I am betting he won't get Sprint and it will be another failed venture ,just like the buyout of Blockbuster ,that is now dieing out store by physical store. Who knows what will happen with the FEES ,after this whole thing blows up in his face?

I agree, I think that Dish is going to price themselves out of the market. Satellite TV is a dying industry, so Dish has to find ways to enter the emerging markets of on-demand programming.. It's all about cycles, and satellite tv as a whole is in the decay cycle for sure. Look at how the music industry has transformed over the last decade. Keep raising fees by 100% and see what happens to revenue. Dish, wake up and see what you're facing'

 

[oldengineer]

Just got off of the phone with Dish. My old package was 2h/2J + AEP +BB@H +PP = $157/mo before taxes but including $10/18 AEP package protection.

I dropped a Joey and dropped down to AT200 + HBO/SHO + BB@H + PP = $132/mo before taxes.

The CSR gave me a 6 month deal of AT200 + BB@H + 4 Prems +BB@H + PP = $128/mo before taxes which I took.

I was adamant in telling the CSR that the only reason I was doing this was to protest the upcoming $11.00 equipment price increase. She noted it on my account and said that the CSRs had no info about this increase.

 

[voodooevil]

I am just curious,.... would it be worse to switch over to the other satellite company?
I cant figure out the package details but it seems to be something I have been thinking about for a while.
I was even thinking about Cable too.
do you think it would be a bad idea?
thanks..Joe

 

[odbrv]

At one time there were no equipment lease fees. You had to buy the equipment. My 1st HD receiver cost over $900. Even in the C-Band days the receivers were over $500. This limited the number of people who could afford satellite tv service. The lease fees are to allow more customers to use the equipment and also to pay off the equipment they give you prior to you switching to new equipment. So if a hopper costs $300 to make then at a lease price of $50 down and $7 per month, it takes about 36 months for Dish to recoop their costs. At $100 down and $7 per month, it takes about 28 months to recoop costs. At $100 down and $14 per month it take about 15 month to recoop costs. With all this switching from Hopper to Hopper with sling The 15 month model is needed. Anyone who buys their equipment and still pays the lease fees is not very good at finance or has a very special use need that they must pay for.

 

[lparsons21]

It depends on your individual situation. If you are still within the 2 year contract, then it takes a bit of math to determine if it is financially sound to do. If you are still in contract, you have to figure what your ETF is and add it to the costs of the switch.

And of course you have to see if they have the channels you want (HD or whatever) in a package that makes sense for you. And D*'s hardware though solid is much slower in operation than are any of E*'s.

I'm not in a position to switch without it costing me money, but here's a couple things I noticed.

I have the T250 right now, with Direct I could use ChoiceXtra which has all the channels I care about, which would be cheaper.

With my 2 Hopper setup, if I switched I would need a Genie with its 5 tuners and a HR2x to have enough tuners to handle the scheduling. That requires a $199 upfront charge for the HR2x. If you could use a Genie with the dumb clients (Cxx) then the upfront would be zero in most cases.

 

[lparsons21]

At one time there were no equipment lease fees. You had to buy the equipment. My 1st HD receiver cost over $900. Even in the C-Band days the receivers were over $500. This limited the number of people who could afford satellite tv service. The lease fees are to allow more customers to use the equipment and also to pay off the equipment they give you prior to you switching to new equipment. So if a hopper costs $300 to make then at a lease price of $50 down and $7 per month, it takes about 36 months for Dish to recoop their costs. At $100 down and $7 per month, it takes about 28 months to recoop costs. At $100 down and $14 per month it take about 15 month to recoop costs. With all this switching from Hopper to Hopper with sling The 15 month model is needed. Anyone who buys their equipment and still pays the lease fees is not very good at finance or has a very special use need that they must pay for.

Regardless of what they call them, the monthly equipment fee isn't really a lease fee as even a bought unit has the same fee. The only difference between bought and leased is that you pay less upfront with a leased unit and have to return it. Of course if you bought it you can recover some of your costs if you later resell it, but frankly that is a minimal amount of recovery imo.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Satellite tv is still cheaper for programming than cable,but equipment fees and Dvr fees is where they pump up the price you pay. IF it is just you or your wife and one receiver , you will come out cheaper than cable. IF you have more than three people the equipment fees start stacking up. Tivo is just like DISH . They charge over $500.00 for their latest Premeire receivers and around $14.00 for their recording fee or dvr fee. DISH has decided to pump up their fees for Hoppers to $14.00 as well. Directv is higher than DISH on programming and they have fees that are higher ,by I think it was a dollar more for the same whole house dvr,than DISH does. The DISH Vip class of dvrs is worse for equipment fees, than the hopper. You pay around $17.00 for an additional Vip dvr like the 722/722k on your account.

 

[sparc]

I am just curious,.... would it be worse to switch over to the other satellite company?
I cant figure out the package details but it seems to be something I have been thinking about for a while.
I was even thinking about Cable too.
do you think it would be a bad idea?
thanks..Joe

depends on if they offer all the channels/programming you want.

I'm guessing you may get some short term discounts that may make it cheaper, but you'll have to do the math and compare packages.

 

[clotter]

Wow! This is the first I heard of the major fee increases on the way. I'm in a bit of disbelief/shock as I thought the current fees were too high. All I can say at this early stage, is that I will be making changes! I currently have 2 Hoppers & 2 Joeys. Just before the fees increase, I will be making the call. They can have at least one Hopper back. I think this will also be the impetus for me to seriously consider alternatives such as the HTPC method mentioned earlier.

 

[odbrv]

I looked my own receiver use over the years. When I got my original equipment in 1997 I used it for many years. So A $400 unit that lasted 6 years was about $5.55 per month. I could never sell them. They were not in demand anymore. In the HD era I have gone from a 921 to a 942 to a 622 to a 722 to a 722K to hopper 2000. I never used any of them for more than 2 years. Dish has never recooped their equipment lease/fee cost with me. As soon as the Hopper with sling drops to a $50 down cost, I plan to move to it.

 

[peggy97850]

Those of us with Hopper2000 shouldn't have the same fee as the HWS as we don't have the more upgraded features - & how about getting the software bugs out before increasing costs? After a year I'd expect it to work as advertised . . .


Posted Using The New SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[Ghpr13]

The funniest thing is that if DISH was smart they would CUT their fees and see their growth soar !!! When you have the best technology , hardware ,software etc, you should be able to afford to sell your stuff cheaper. The volume of customers that would flock to your service would more than make up for the lack of FEES . But this isn't about GROWTH , it is about more REVENUE so they can finance their newest fascination: Buying Sprint and also fighting their never ending lawsuits with the networks over the auto hop and hopper. They need more money so they don't have to borrow as much to finance their buyout.

Charlie is desperately trying to expand into something new ,because he sees the writing on the wall. Satellite tv is no longer growing. The future is not satellite tv and mobile video over cell phones, tablets etc. is the fix he is looking at. Besides he has all that cell bandwith he bought up just waiting for a partner. Sprint is that partner , Charlie hopes anyway. But I am betting he won't get Sprint and it will be another failed venture ,just like the buyout of Blockbuster ,that is now dieing out store by physical store. Who knows what will happen with the FEES ,after this whole thing blows up in his face?

This is a little different by the end results are exactly what you are talking about: When I was running a 7-Eleven in Northwest Chicago, We determined that we could sell Big Gulps at 50 cents a cup, instead of the 89 cents they normally go for, and make almost twice the profit. People love a deal, and will swarm to you if you're really offering a good deal. Soda was pennies in cost and a very high profit item, but at 50 cents, profits were over what they were at regular price. I used this same formula when I moved on to other food venues, and it always had great results for me, profit wise.

Dish gas the ability to do the same thing. The DVRs are already out there...Dish is already getting a fee on each one of them. Lower the fee and see how many more customers they will get. They have ads running constantly that Dish is cheaper than DirecTV, but if Dish goes through with this next price hike, I don't see how they're going to keep running those ads. People will just laugh at it knowing it's a lie.
Ghpr13

 

[charlesrshell]

Is the fee increase for Hoppers with Sling only or both versions? May have been posted someplace and I missed it. Thanks.

 

[mike123abc]

This is a little different by the end results are exactly what you are talking about: When I was running a 7-Eleven in Northwest Chicago, We determined that we could sell Big Gulps at 50 cents a cup, instead of the 89 cents they normally go for, and make almost twice the profit. People love a deal, and will swarm to you if you're really offering a good deal. Soda was pennies in cost and a very high profit item, but at 50 cents, profits were over what they were at regular price. I used this same formula when I moved on to other food venues, and it always had great results for me, profit wise.

Dish gas the ability to do the same thing. The DVRs are already out there...Dish is already getting a fee on each one of them. Lower the fee and see how many more customers they will get. They have ads running constantly that Dish is cheaper than DirecTV, but if Dish goes through with this next price hike, I don't see how they're going to keep running those ads. People will just laugh at it knowing it's a lie.
Ghpr13

Most people only look at the package price, it is like a cell phone bill. They shop on the package price and figure all providers are the same for the added charges.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Is the fee increase for Hoppers with Sling only or both versions? May have been posted someplace and I missed it. Thanks.

Both from what Ive seen.The MRV fee goes up $4, then then $7 increase on the second Hopper and beyond. So if you have two hoppers, your bill is increasing by $11.

 

[threnners]

Derp, posting guffaw

 

[Hall]

Satellite tv is still cheaper for programming than cable,but equipment fees and Dvr fees is where they pump up the price you pay. IF it is just you or your wife and one receiver , you will come out cheaper than cable. IF you have more than three people the equipment fees start stacking up. Tivo is just like DISH .

I think many people should strongly evaluate how many receivers they really need. We're a family of five and have a Hopper and one Joey for two TVs. Our son has a TV but only OTA (which he doesn't use) - it's primary use is for video gaming. Our daughters do NOT have a TV. Everyone survives just fine...

A friend of mine have (8) TVs for just himself and his wife. One in the kitchen, one in the laundry room, one in each bedroom (3), and one in their attic/grandkid's play room. They won't consider satellite because they insist on needing (8) receivers. I tried one time to convince them they could do it and needless to say, they still have cable....

 

[charlesrshell]

Both from what Ive seen.The MRV fee goes up $4, then then $7 increase on the second Hopper and beyond. So if you have two hoppers, your bill is increasing by $11.

WOW, $25 increase for me. Guess I will have to cut some programs.